A successful face swap can be tricky even though it only has a few steps. This article will cover all the points necessary for a seamless face swap. After some practice you will be able to create novelty images for your friends or picture yourself on holiday!

What are the Key Points to Consider with a Face Swap in Photoshop?

Although the process is fairly straightforward, there are key points to consider when picking your images. We will now review all the points you want to consider before your edit. 

Position of the Head 

The most important factor is the position of the head. You cannot perform a face swap where one of the model’s heads faces forward and the other to the side. This is because the body posture will not match up.

Therefore, you must find images where the head is facing in a similar direction relative to the camera. If a head is tilted, this does not matter. You can easily fix a tilt in Photoshop. 

Lighting

Lighting is not as important as the position of the head, but it can still ruin a face swap. If one image has harsh light with strong shadows and the other has none, it is unlikely you could get them to match. 

Therefore, look for images that have similar light sources and shadows. You can always flip your image if the light source comes from the opposite direction. 

If you need two photos to match, you can use exposure controls to apply your own shadows. This can be a difficult task, but the burn tool is brilliant for this. We will touch on this action later. 

Sharpness 

You will also want to ensure that there is no huge difference in image quality when selecting your photos. If you make a face swap from a 35mm scan to a high-quality image, you will notice it looks unbelievable. 

This also applies to taking a face from someone in the background and putting it on a front and center body. The image in the background could look pixelated or not as sharp as a normal portrait. You can edit the image to reduce the sharpness, but this may be hard to replicate. 

Make A Face Swap in Photoshop 

Let’s now guide you through the easiest way to perform a convincing face swap in Photoshop. We will include ways to fine tune your edit to make it as believable as possible. 

Step 1 – Pick your Photos 

First, you want to choose the photos on which you want to perform a face swap in Photoshop. Think of the kind of edit you want to create. Maybe your flight got canceled, and you want to show your friends you are still on holiday. Or maybe you want to create a novelty image for a birthday card for friends or family. 

You also have the option to swap faces in the same photograph. This will make editing easier as the lighting and quality will be similar. 

Remember to select images where the two people are looking toward the camera in a similar way. You will also want to ensure the lighting is similar. 

It is worth spending some time thinking about which photos to use, as the success of the face swap will depend on this. Once you have selected your images, you can open them in Photoshop. 

Step 2 – Cut Out Your Face 

Go to the image you want to take the face from. We will cut the face out and then transfer it to our next image. 

First, create a duplicate of your background. 

We now want to make a mask for our model’s face. You can use the Pen tool to create an accurate mask; click here to learn how to do this. We will use the Quick Selection tool to look at the easiest option.

For the Quick Selection tool, draw inside the areas you want to include in the mask. Stay calm if the selection goes outside of the face initially. You can swap between the ‘Subtract from selection’ and ‘Add to the selection’ brushes to fine tune your mask. 

Once you have done this, you want to inverse your selection. You can do this by clicking Command + Shift + I (Control + Shift + I for Windows). You will know this worked when you see the moving dotted line around your selection and also around the edge of the photograph. 

Now press backspace. This will delete your background from your layer copy. You are now able to move this layer to the next photograph. 

Step 3 – Place the Face Into the Photograph 

Now, you should drag and drop your new layer into the other photo in Photoshop. You can do this by dragging the layer to the top of Photoshop, where the name for your other image is. Once you hover over this, Photoshop should change the image. 

You can also drag your photo from the top tool bar of Photoshop and drop the layer into the new image. In addition to this, you can go to Arrange at the top and choose a way to show different images. Then, you can drag and drop the layer from one image to another. 

Step 4 – Move Your Face to the Right Place 

We want to get the face in roughly the right location. Once we have applied further edits, we can always fine-tune the placement. 

Use Command + T (Control + T for Windows) to enter the Transform adjustments. You can now change the size of your new head to match the body you want to swap it with. You can also change the angle at which it sits. 

Do not try to cover up the other figure’s features with the size. This will look unnatural. Instead, we can eliminate stray hairs and other features that may stick out later. 

Step 5 – Apply Adjustments to Make A Convincing Edit 

The most crucial process for making a face swap in Photoshop is to blend the two images. We can ensure they go together by editing our face swap’s color, tone, and saturation. 

The first thing we want to do is create a mask. Get the Quick Selection tool and make sure your face layer is selected. Then, draw roughly in the face. The layer just contains the face, so it will only keep to this previous selection. 

Now, you can click on an adjustment, and it will make a mask for this adjustment. I will always first try to match the color. The easiest way to do this is to use the Color Balance adjustment. 

Here, you can try matching the two scenes. If the background image is warmer, add some yellow, and the opposite if it is cold. You may also need to play with the red/cyan colors, as these facial tones can be very noticeable. 

Once you have done this, emphasize the blend using the Hue/Saturation adjustment. Make sure you use the Quick Selection tool to make a mask before selecting the adjustment. I would then make tonal adjustments using the Levels tool using the same process. 

Step 6 – Fine Tune Your Edit 

Now, we want to apply the final edits to the face swap. Let’s first remove any unwanted elements behind the model’s head. 

For this process, you will want to ensure that the background has a copy. You can do this by dragging it onto the New Layer icon at the bottom. Now, you want to get the Clone Stamp tool. 

After ensuring the background copy is selected, start brushing away the unwanted elements from behind your new face. Option click (Alt on Windows) to select a replacement location for your brush. Select an area that has the same color and tones as what should be behind your head. 

After this, we want to fine-tune the shades on our new face. The best way to do this is to use the Burn tool. I suggest reducing the Exposure to around 10%. 

Make sure you select your head layer and slowly paint in new shadows. This could be around the neck or places where the shadow should be according to the light source. 

If you ever need to move your head, you can do this anytime. Make sure you have selected your adjustment layers and face layers. Then, press Command + T (Control + T for Windows) to move all layers at the same time. 

Now, you should have a convincing face swap in Photoshop. 

Conclusion: Face Swap in Photoshop 

Now that we have given you a step-by-step guide, you can see that the initial process is easy, but fine-tuning can be tricky. The best way to do this is to take your time and try to understand the unique characteristics of each photo in terms of color and tone. 

Creating a face swap in Photoshop is a brilliant way to make fun images for friends and family. It can also be an effective way to place yourself in new environments. The more you practice this technique, the better you will become at fooling your friends and creating convincing photo composites. 

Lightroom continues to add cutting-edge tools, allowing easier and more customizable background blur tools. This means you do not have to take your photos to Photoshop for expert levels of control. Lightroom is the best digital editing software for creating a quick background blur. 

Do I Need Background Blur? 

Creating a blurred background is a stylistic choice that puts all the attention on the subject in the foreground. It is useful for many reasons, from blocking our boring or distracting backgrounds to making the subject look sharper. 

Background blur is created naturally in photography through a shallow depth of field. If you cannot produce this effect in the camera, you will have to do it in post-production. You may not be able to achieve it in the camera due to light restrictions or forgetting the right settings. 

Background blur can completely change a photograph. It adds more depth to the image and places our subject at the front. Depth in a photograph can be a powerful tool for creating stunning images. 

Blurring the Background in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions produce the same results, as the algorithms for adjustments are the same. They each have the Lens Blur tools and a Brush Refinement section for greater control over your edits. 

How To Blur the Background in Lightroom 

There are two different methods to blur the background in Lightroom. We will cover three different approaches. We recommend using the Lens Blur feature as it is a new and powerful tool. 

Click these links below to go to the relevant section: 

Use Lens Blur
Use an AI Mask 

Blur the Background in Lightroom Using the Lens Blur Tool 

The Lens Blur tool is one of the newer additions to Lightroom’s arsenal. It is a powerful tool that is a great example of showing us how far digital editing software has come. 

The Lens Blur tool uses AI to read our image to identify key features and depth in our photograph. This produces the fastest background blur technology Adobe has created, making the process much faster than Photoshop. 

Step 1 – Apply Lens Blur 

First, you want to open your image and go to the Edit panel in Lightroom or the Develop panel in Lightroom Classic. 

Scroll down to find the Lens Blur section. Now, click Apply. This will start the AI analyzing your photograph, which will take a few seconds. 

Now, your image should have a provisional background blur applied. You can use the Blur Amount slider to adjust the intensity of the blur. 

Step 2 – Choose Your Bokeh 

Now that you have your basic background blur in Lightroom, you can start to customise the edit. 

Lightroom offers five different types of bokeh to choose from: Circle, Bubble, 5-blade, Ring, and Cat Eye. These different types of bokeh simulate the effect you get from different types of lenses. Bokeh is produced by a lens’s construction and internal features. 

By changing the different type of bokeh you will see how you get different types of blur in your photograph. 

Underneath the Bokeh options, you have a Boost slider. The Boost slider adjusts the intensity of the Bokeh effect. 

Step 3 – Fine Tune the Focus Range 

The best customizable feature comes from selecting the Focus Range. During the analysis process, Adobe’s AI calculates the depth in the photograph. The Focus Range adjustment allows you to pick the depth range that is in focus. 

You can move the entire block or each end to select your Focus Range. Therefore, you can create a fairly wide or narrow focus range, deciding what works best for your image. The Focus range is Near on the left side and Far on the right side. 

Lightroom features two icons to help you select different areas if you don’t want to manually do it. You will see these to the right of the Focus Range. One features an outline of a person, and one is of a crosshair. 

The outline of a person is Subject Focus. This will identify the key subject in the photograph and ensure this subject is fully in focus, with the blur just behind it. The crosshair is Point/Area Focus. This allows you to click anywhere on the photograph, and it will set this area to not be blurred out. 

Another brilliant feature is the Visualize Depth tool. Clicking these options will provide a heat map overlay, visualizing the photograph’s depth. This is great for adjusting the Focus Range. 

When you start to adjust the Focus Range areas you will notice the colours change. The areas in colour will be blurred while the white areas will be in focus. This allows you to adjust with great levels of accuracy. 

Step 4 – Brush Refinement 

Adobe understands its AI for reading depth may not be 100% accurate. To combat this, Adobe provides a Brush Refinement section in each Lightroom version for maximum control over your blur. 

This Brush tool gives you two options: Focus or Blur. These options decide whether what you draw in is in focus or blurred out. 

The Amount slider allows you to select the intensity of the blur. Having this on 100 will match the intensity of your options above. Using the main Blur Amount slider will also adjust this blur. 

Below this, you have regular Brush controls. The Size, Feather, and Flow sliders control your brush and how it acts. With the Visualize Depth map on, you can see how your brush strokes change the depth. 

This section also comes with a Reset button. This is helpful as you can always go back to the first AI edit and make a better adjustment. 

Blur the Background in Lightroom Using AI Mask

Another quick and easy way to create a background blur in Lightroom is to use the Masking tools. 

This does not give you as many customization options as the Lens Blur option. But if you often use masks, you may find it more convenient. 

Step 1 – Create A Mask 

The icon for masking in Lightroom is a dotted circle with a shaded inside. You can find this in the Develop section in Lightroom Classic and below the Edit section in Lightroom. 

Lightroom will present you with different AI masking options upon clicking the Mask section. These are Subject, Sky, Background, and People. 

You can blur the background in Lightroom using the Subject, Background, and People options. 

Step 2 – Blur the Background

Upon selecting your desired mask, you will see a red overlay over the selected parts of your image. 

The red signifies the areas that will be edited. So, if you chose Subject or People, you must invert your selection. The Invert button is located just above the new adjustments for your mask. 

You can then make edits to blur the background. The best adjustments for this are the Texture, Clairty, and Dehaze adjustments in Effects and Sharpness in the Detail section. If you want more texture for your Blur, you could also add Grain.

This method doesn’t make as dramatic of a blur as the Lens Blur tool. But its subtlety and control may suit some photographers more than others. 

Conclusion – How To Blur the Background in Lightroom 

Adobe makes blurring the background in Lightroom an incredibly easy task. Thanks to the Lens Blur tool, we can simulate different types of lenses and their effects. This is completely new in digital photo editing, and you will not be able to find it in any other digital editing software. 

The previous process involved masking your subject in Photoshop and applying the blur to the background. Now, the entire process can take a single minute, which allows us much more time to fine-tune our creativity. 

Lightroom lens correction is as simple as it gets. Adobe provides an automatic function and a more in-depth manual function to fine-tune your edits. This article will cover all options and adjustments for lens corrections. 

What is Lens Correction?

Photographers need lens correction adjustments as optic construction has flaws. Lenses have different imperfections depending on their construction, focal length, and glass. 

The most common issues you will encounter are distortion, perspective, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. These issues can distort the scene in front of the camera, making an unrealistic replication of the subject. 

Should I Always Use Lens Correction?

Lens corrections are useful if you want to produce an accurate representation of the location or subject. However, you may not want to use them if you prefer the lens’s aesthetic. 

For example, wide-angle lenses will produce a fish-eye look. This could be an important style choice for many genres of photography from fashion to sport photography. On the other hand, if you are an architectural photographer, you will want the scene to be as accurate as possible. Therefore, you would use lens correction. 

Lens Correction in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions produce the same results as the algorithms for adjustments are the same. They both allow you to perform lens corrections. This article will outline differences in the processes we touch on in either Lightroom version. 

The main difference between the two Lightroom versions is that Lightroom Classic allows you to go into more detail. Lightroom does not allow you to perform manual edits apart from Defringe controls. 

How To Apply Lightroom Lens Corrections

To start your Lightroom lens correction you will first want to open your image in Lightroom. Make your way to the Edit panel in Lightroom (you must be on Detail view for your image) and the Develop panel in Lightroom Classic. 

You will then want to scroll down to find the Optics section in Lightroom and Lens Correction in Lightroom Classic. These are the same sections but have different names in each version. 

Remove Chromatic Aberration

The first automatic feature you will encounter is removing chromatic aberration. This is a tick box that applies the correction without any intervention. 

Chromatic aberration is cause by different light waves not syncing up due to how they travel through the lens. Therefore, you often find colored lines outlining high-contrast areas. Fixing chromatic aberration can make your images sharper. 

In the example below, you can see that the Remove Chromatic Aberration button removes a blue and red tint from the building’s outline. This makes the lines more defined and, therefore, sharper. 

This adjustment may not be noticeable on the web, but it will make a big difference if you print the image large. 

Enable Profile Corrections 

Lightroom has access to all the metadata for every photo you take on a digital camera. That is how it can tell you your camera settings inside the program. 

With Profile Corrections, Lightroom goes one step further. The digital editing software can read the lens that you use. It then automatically applies corrections that are custom-tuned for your specific lens. 

This does not work with every lens. Adobe supports the most popular lens brands and a few other unique ones. So, if you use a niche lens, you must check to see if Lightroom has support for it. 

When you click Enable Profile Corrections, your image will look distorted. This can look strange at first, but you will notice that converging lines are now straighter. 

If you do not like the results you can always fine-tune the selection. You can do this through the Distortion Correction and Lens Vignetting sliders below. 

Editing the Distortion Correction will increase or decrease the barrel warp of the photograph. The Lens Vignette will make the edges lighter when increased and darker when decreased. 

You are also able to change the lens Profile that Lightroom uses. It will automatically select the lens you are using, but you can manually put in your lens if Lightroom does not read it. 

Defringe 

The Defringe adjustment is located below the Optics section in Lightroom and in the Manual part of Lens Corrections in Lightroom Classic. 

This manual adjustment allows you to control any color fringing in your photograph. This is done through a purple hue and a green hue. In Lightroom, you must select the color below Defringe. Lightroom Classic displays all sliders without having to swap between the colors. 

Color fringing is a type of chromatic aberration. This is normally found in purple and green tints, hence the sliders for these colours. 

Different lenses produce different forms of chromatic aberrations. Lightroom provides these as manual adjustments, as its automatic Remove Chromatic Aberration may not take these colours into account. This is because it is normally bad lenses that produce this effect. 

Here, Lightroom allows you to adjust the amount and the hue of the colour fringing. The hue comes with two points in the slider. These set the parameters for the colors it eliminates. Be careful, as this adjustment will also eliminate colors in other places of the photograph. 

Distortion 

Lightroom Classic has a dedicated distortion slider in the Manual section. This slider allows you to control the distortion manually. This is what you will have to do if your lens is not recognised. 

The distortion is quite dramatic, so you want to move it in small increments. When you move the slider, you will see a grid overlay you photograph. This is incredibly helpful. Look for lines that should be straight in your photograph and match them with the grid. 

The Constrain Crop button will crop your image so the stretch leaves no blank space. This is good because it makes your photo full, but you will miss out on the details on the edge of the photo. 

The example below is pushed to the extreme to show you want is capable from this tool. 

Vignetting 

Lightroom Classic also provides an additional vignetting slider in the Manual section. This slider is more powerful and offers more control than the one in the profile correction section. 

It is similar in that it increases the exposure in corners when moving right and decreases when moving left. As just mentioned, the adjustment is more drastic. 

The Vignetting slider also has a midpoint slider. This allows you to fine-tune how dramatic the gradient toward the center of the screen is. This feature helps you perfect your lens correction to fine details.

These adjustments are helpful for specialist equipment that may produce dramatic vignetting. The initial Vignetting slider in the Lightroom Classic Manual section is great for expert-level control, and it can fix most lens vignetting. 

Applying Lens Corrections to Multiple Images 

Both Lightroom versions allow you to save Lens Correction or Optics settings under a preset. First, you will want to edit the image. Then, you will want to make a preset. Read our in-depth article here for more information. 

You can then apply the preset to a batch of photos or to every photo during the import process. 

Remember that your lens distortion will change depending on the focal length. So, I would advise applying the preset only when looking at each image individually. 

Conclusion: Lightroom Lens Correction

This guide shows that the Lightroom lens correction tools are brilliant for adjusting imperfections. Lightroom Classic offers a more in-depth approach to lens correction. But, these extra adjustments are optional for most photographs. 

You don’t need to apply lens corrections to every photo, but they are crucial for some photographic genres. Try it out for yourself to see how Lightroom lens correction can improve your photography. 

Adobe Lightroom is crucial to many photographers’ archives. It can house all the photographs we have ever taken, so it is very important to transfer images properly. By the end of this article, you will be confident that none of your pictures or settings are left on your old computer. 

Transfer a Lightroom Catalog To A New Computer in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Lightroom doesn’t use a Catalog system. Instead, it favors saving your images to the cloud. This means you can access your files from any computer, making for a seamless transition to a new computer. Lightroom also allows you to save files locally.

Lightroom Classic uses a catalog system to manage your files. This is normally stored on your computer rather than in the cloud. This is the main Lightroom version we will cover in this article. 

Step 1: Preparing Your Folders to Transfer a Lightroom Catalog to a New Computer 

The most crucial step in this process is ensuring your files are conveniently stored on your computer. 

Lightroom Classic does not store your original files. Instead, it references them. Even if you upload photographs directly into Lightroom, Lightroom will create a place for the original files on your computer. 

When you transfer a Lightroom Classic catalog to another computer, you must also transfer these original files. 

If you have not been keeping your computer organized, you can find the folder by right-clicking it in Lightroom. From here, you can select Show In Finder, which will automatically open the relevant file.

You can also right-click the folder and click Show Parent Folder. This is useful if multiple folders are under one larger folder structure. 

You can easily transfer the entire folder structure by copying and saving the parent folder. This will make it easy for Lightroom to relink all your photographs. 

Step 2: Backup Your Lightroom Files and Settings 

You will probably be familiar with the constant backup notifications Lightroom pops up whenever you close the application. Undertaking a backup is crucial to ensuring the edits and organisation in Lightroom don’t get deleted. 

Photos

Your photos are the most important files to back up. Use the first step above to ensure all your photos are in the right locations. 

You will then want to transfer the relevant folders to an external hard drive or a cloud service. Keep the folder structures as similar as possible. This will make the process easier on your new computer. 

This may be a good time to organize your archive if you have a messy folder structure. Having all your image folders neatly organized will make your life much easier in the future. This is especially relevant if you need to perform advanced edits in Photoshop or if you need to send RAW images to clients. 

Catalog

The Lightroom Catalog stores all the information on the photos you have imported and your edits to them. Therefore, you must ensure your catalog is transferred, not just the photographs. If you transfer just the photographs, you will have to start all your edits again. 

Your Lightroom Catalog will automatically set itself on a weekly rotation for a backup. Lightroom will notify you as you close your application if you want to back up your catalog. 

To locate your Lightroom Catalog or to change the backup rota, go to Lightroom Classic along the top toolbar of your computer and then to Catalog Settings. This section will tell you where your catalog is located on your computer. 

Click Show next to Location to open your catalog file in a folder on your computer. You can copy this entire catalog to an external hard drive or cloud service. The most important file is the .lrcat file. This is what you will open in the new computer. 

Remember you can work with different catalogs in Lightroom. If you do this, ensure you have saved every possible catalog you need on your new computer. 

Presets and Templates

Lightroom allows us to buy and create custom presets for photo editing. There are also metadata templates that help with the organisation of our photographs. You will also want to ensure that you save these customs elements. 

To find out where your presets are stored, go to Lightroom Classic, then Preferences. The Preset section is one of the main sections along the top. Under Location, you will want to tick the box ‘Store presets with this catalog.’ 

If you do not check this box, you can still locate your presets through the two alternate buttons Lightroom offers. ‘Show Lightroom Develop Presets’ and ‘Show All Other Lightroom Presets’ will guide you to the folder where these items are stored. 

Presets save as .xmp file types. Make sure you copy all the relevant presets you want to take to your computer. Again, it is best to store the presets along with the catalog. 

Plug-ins 

Some photographers use special plug-ins in Lightroom to perform unique processes inside Lightroom. If you are one of these photographers, you will want to bring your plug-ins to a new computer. 

Lightroom makes this process easy. Go to File and then Plug-in Manager. You can then choose from the different plug-ins on the left of the dialog box. Under Status, each plug-in will have an option to Show In Finder. You will want to copy over the .lrplgin file types.

Step 3: Install Lightroom on Your New Computer 

After ensuring everything is on a hard drive or a cloud service, you can go to your new computer and download Lightroom. 

You can find the download for Lightroom on the Adobe website. You will first have to download Creative Cloud and then log in to your account to get access to your application. 

If you have a Lightroom version that you bought on a disk, you can use this method to install the program. Remember to keep the serial number to activate the application. 

Remember to transfer your files off your hard drive onto your new computer. If you do not do this then you will have to have your hard drive connect every time you edit.

Step 4: Transfer Lightroom Catalog to a New Computer 

You will now want to make sure you transfer your file from a hard drive or cloud service to your computer. If you want to skip linking the missing files, ensure each folder has the same structure. Do not worry if you cannot do this, as you can link each folder manually in Lightroom.

If you use the cloud version of Lightroom, open it, and all your files should be there! 

With Lightroom Classic closed, locate your catalog and double-click it to open it. This should automatically open Lightroom with your catalog in the same state as your last backup. 

You can also open the Lightroom program and click Open Catalog. This will bring up a dialog box for you to search through your folders for your saved .lrcat catalog file type. 

You will now want to go through each folder in Lightroom to ensure your photos are connected. If they are connected you will still see a preview of the photo but there will be an exclamation mark in the top right of each image. 

Click this exclamation mark in a box to relink your photos. Once you have found the same photo Lightroom will ask you if you want to link all other photos in this folder. This means you will only have to find the link to a couple of photos to do a whole range. 

Last, you will want to ensure your presets and plug-ins are connected. Make sure the preset .xmp file types are in the right folder. If not, you can reimport the preset to Lightroom. Check out our guide on how to do this here. 

Conclusion: Transfer Lightroom Catalog to a New Computer

The hardest part about transferring your Lightroom Catalog to a new computer is organizing it on your computer. If you know where all your RAW files are, this process is super simple. Adobe Lightroom does a great job of archiving the imported images, so they should be convenient to locate and sort through. 

Ensure you have started the transfer process before deleting your files from your old computer. You may have missed out on some files; if you do this, getting the RAW images back will be impossible. 

Luckily, Lightroom provides a brilliant process for applying customized watermarks to our photos. This process is much easier than applying your watermark in Photoshop. In this article, we will guide you through the entire process and explore every option Lightroom allows. 

What Is A Watermark? 

A watermark is similar to a signature for our photographs. It is primarily used as a mark of ownership. If we share our images beyond the circle of those who know our photography, then people who like our images can search for more of our work. 

Watermarks are also important for protecting our images. People will not want to use a photograph with writing across it. Adding a watermark can ensure a client only uses our pictures after we are paid. 

You will see watermarks in all shapes and sizes. Small watermarks are for situations like the first example I mentioned, sharing images so people can trace us. You can make these as subtle as you like. As the watermark will still be fairly obvious, viewers can find your or your company’s name.

Larger watermarks are for the second example: to protect our images. It is common to see big and bold watermarks covering photographs. This is because it makes it impossible to crop or edit out the watermark. 

Watermarks in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic  

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions have a watermark editing feature. These are both found in the exporting process. The only difference between the two Lightroom versions is the layout of the Watermark Editor box. 

Add A Watermark in Lightroom 

A watermark is one of the last edits you want to apply to your photograph. This is why you will find the Watermark Editor in the exporting process. 

Let’s now go through how to add a watermark in Lightroom in detail. 

Finding The Watermark Editor

First, choose your image or images, and go to File > Export.

In Lightroom, look for the tick box labeled ‘Include Watermark.’ If you click this, Lightroom will apply a preliminary watermark based on the name attached to your Adobe account. 

To access the editor, click the settings cog wheel to the right of this tick box.

In Lightroom Classic’s export box, scroll down until you see Watermarking. Here, click the tick box and use the dropdown menu to select Edit Watermarks… 

You can save a range of different watermarks in the Watermark Editor. Lightroom Classic allows you to select these different watermarks through the dropdown box quickly. 

Creating A Text Watermark 

Lightroom offers a very simple top-to-bottom workflow for creating a text watermark. You will start by setting the text, the font, its style, its rotation, and its color. Lightroom even offers a drop shadow option to make it look like the watermark is above the image. 

Lightroom Classic is slightly more complicated but offers more customisation options. To access your customization options, click the Text Options section. Here, you will see the same options as Lightroom but also an Align section for longer watermarks. 

Lightroom Classic includes many different ways to customize your drop shadow. This is smart because a well-placed drop shadow will be difficult for someone to edit out. Here, you can adjust its opacity, offset, radius, and its angle. 

Creating A Graphic Watermark 

If you want to add a graphic watermark, you must upload an image to Lightroom. Both versions accept JPEG or PNG files. I suggest using a PNG file, as you can use a transparent background. 

To make an image without a background you will have to use Photoshop. You can also use this online background remove website. But it may not produce accurate results, so make sure you double check the design. 

If you have your own branding for your photography, use this. 

In Lightroom, you can add your graphic by selecting Graphic along the top of the Watermark Editor. This section will replace the text options with a box titled ‘Add A Graphic.’ Clicking this box will bring up a file browser where you can find your desired watermark. 

Lightroom Classic has a ‘Watermark Style’ selection option in the Watermark Editor. This is a check-box between Text or Graphic. Upon clicking Graphic, you will immediately open a file browsing box to select your graphic. 

Editing The Watermark 

Let’s now review the options Lightroom provides to fine-tune our custom watermarks. You can adjust the Size, Opacity, Inset, and Anchor of your watermark. We will outline what each of these adjustments does below. 

Size 

The Size adjustment in Lightroom is a simple slider that goes from smaller to larger. The watermark will adjust as you move the slider so you can directly see the impact. 

Lightroom Classic has a slider and two other tick-box choices: Fit or Fill. You may be familiar with these options from the cropping process. 

Fit will ensure the entire watermark is displayed in full across your image. It will make the longest edge of your watermark match the longest edge of the photography. 

Fill will fill the frame with the watermark. Here, the shortest edge of your watermark will match the shortest edge of your photograph. This will likely crop your watermark, so there may be better options. 

Opacity 

The Opacity slider sets how transparent your watermark is. This allows you to make the watermark as subtle or noticeable as you like. 

Feel free to go down to 10-15 if you want to make it subtle. Viewers can still pick up on your watermark if they are interested in your work. 

The Opacity adjustment is the same in both Lightroom versions. 

Anchor

The Anchor option decides where your watermark will be positioned in your frame. This customization option consists of nine tick boxes in a 3×3 square. Each tick box corresponds to a different area of the frame. 

This process is the same in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. 

Inset/ Offset

The Vertical and Horizontal Inset/Offset lets you move your watermark horizontally or vertically. This is very helpful for fine-tuning the position of your watermark on your photo. 

For some reason, it is titled Inset on Lightroom Classic and Offset in Lightroom. They both work the same, Lightroom Classic’s slider allows for more maneuverability backwards and forward. Lightroom’s slider allows for more maneuverability in one direction. 

Exporting/ Saving Your Watermark 

Lightroom will always remember the last watermark you have set. So, every time you check the Include Watermark box, you will have the same watermark as the last. 

Lightroom Classic allows you to save different watermarks as presets. To save your watermark, find the dropdown box labeled Custom at the top left. Click this and select Save Current Settings as New Preset. You will then be able to name this preset. 

The next time you export an image in Lightroom Classic, you can select a preset in the Watermark section. This will appear as a choice in the dropdown box where you previously selected the Watermark Editor. 

Conclusion: Add Watermark in Lightroom 

Now that you know how to add a watermark in Lightroom, you have made your work much more secure. A watermark is one of the best ways to stop stealing your photos. And if they take your photos, everyone will clearly see who the photo belongs to. 

Thankfully Lightroom have set up a quick process to applying watermarks to our images. So make sure you try these out for yourself to protect your images. 

Presets are a great way to work through your images in Adobe Lightroom. They are adjustments made to an image and then saved for future use. Some photographers or software manufacturers create these presets. Here, we have collected 37 free Lightroom presets covering most photography topics.

Free Lightroom Presets: Why Use Them?

Lightroom presets are for speeding up your post-processing. They allow you to edit more images simultaneously with a single click. This way, your images can have a uniform tone and atmosphere. All you need to do is paste the settings to all your photos.

It’s perfect when you have a deadline to meet. For example, event photographers almost always use presets.

Everyone can benefit from using Lightroom presets because they are non-destructive. Editing in Lightroom is non-destructive. This means you can always go back to the RAW image at a click of a button. You can remove your adjustments easily.

You might add pre-made adjustments to your image, but these can all be tweaked for a personal look. This also hastens your workflow and, at the same time, teaches you how you can reach different effects.

You can easily install presets in Lightroom and then easily use them. After that, import your images and start working. Plus, it’s great when you can do it for free!

Free Lightroom Presets for Landscape Photography

Landscape images can really benefit from Lightroom presets. Green rolling hills, a mountain in the background, or a water source. Your photo most likely has one or more of these elements.

The following presets help bring out colors. They also bring down the highlights and bring detail out of the shadows. This helps your hills, mountains, rivers, etc., pop!

1. Beautiful Sunrise

When there isn’t enough light yet, colors can appear plain.

So this free Lightroom preset from PresetPro helps you enhance the magical colors of every sunrise.

2. Cinematic HDR

This free Lightroom preset from Loaded Landscapes gives your landscapes a unique cinema-inspired HDR look.

It may look unnatural on some of your images, but you can experiment by trying it on different types of images. Just look for a good fit.

3. Black and White (B&W) HDR

Sometimes your landscape images look great in black and white. A touch of HDR can even make them more dramatic.

This Loaded Landscapes preset also looks good with other genres, not only landscapes. So we suggest you experiment with it.

4. PRO Landscape and Travel Lightroom Presets

This is a BeArt Powerful Collection for travel and landscape photographers. You can get 15 free Lightroom presets with just one click.

Using the same preset on several photos can add another dimension to your personal style. It also makes those images look like they belong together.

5. Rising Star

This free preset from Shutter Pulse on Loaded Landscapes will add a cinematic look to your photos.

It strengthens the contrast and broadens the dynamic range. This way, you can enhance the power of nature.

6. Landscape

Photonify created this landscape preset. Their preset adds contrast to the midtones. The exposure is lightened, and details are pulled out of the shadows.

These adjustments deepen the colors. And they turn images into something more powerful without looking too artificial.

Free Lightroom Presets for Street Photography

Street photography presets are a great way to go through hundreds of photos in one fell swoop. Since you’re photographing many subjects, from people and architecture to daily life, you need something just as versatile.

Here is a selection of street photography presets to make your images bloom.

7. Street View

This free presets called Street View was created by Presetpro.com.

This Lightroom preset’s task is to bring out the details, especially in high-lit areas such as the sky. The whole image gets an extra notch of brightness and a warmer feeling.

8. Busy City

Busy City was also created by Presetspro.com, which brought us the street view (above).

This Lightroom preset adds an exposure increase to your image and adds detail to high-lit areas like clouds. It makes the photo pop and be more interesting, even if your original image was a little drab and muddy.

9. Street Blue

The website Preset Love offers this industrial Lightroom preset called Street Blue.

It draws out deep and moody hues suitable for street photography portraits and scenes. If you want to bring out textures and details, be sure to try out this preset.

10. Eric Kim Lightroom Presets

These free presets by Eric Kim can make your street photos edgier.

There is a monochromatic and a color version available. Both of them are high-contrast presets. They make some details disappear from your photos. And this emphasizes the shadows and figures.

Free Lightroom Presets for Portraits

Portraiture, fashion, and boudoir focus on the person rather than the setting. Curved shapes and expressions make them powerful.

Lightroom presets can help with the image’s exposure, mood, and tone. They can add to the feeling or juxtapose it. The outcome is down to you.

11. Portrait Preset

This free Portrait Preset from Photonify makes your images sharper and grittier.

It’s not always a good idea to enhance the skin’s structure this much. But there are images where it fits perfectly and makes them more dramatic and characteristic.

12. Cinema Lightroom Preset

You can get 20 free Lightroom presets from Shutter Pulse.

These will make your portraits more artistic by giving them a cinematic atmosphere.

13. Free Lightroom Mobile Presets

Imaginated (previously Preset Galore) offers free Lightroom presets for your smartphone.

These are perfect for editing your images on the go. They save you a lot of time and enable you to immediately post on your social media.

14. Monochrome

This free preset by Photonify is a black-and-white conversion. It looks great and doesn’t change the overall image too much.

The highlights and whites shift downwards. Whereas the clarity, shadows, and blacks are pushed upwards. Your photos will benefit from this vintage preset. It will save you a lot of tinkering.

15. Shadowze

This black-and-white Lightroom preset was created and shared by Lightroom Look.

It is a great preset for converting color images to black and white. It flattens out color images but ensures a nice contrast between dark and light shadows. This ensures a subtle pop.

16. High Contrast B&W

This preset is one of our favorites. It offers high contrast for portraits, street photos, and landscapes. All may benefit from this black-and-white conversion.

The contrast is what makes them pop. It adds a mysterious tone to the image and drops distracting, small details.

Free Lightroom Presets for Newborn Photography

When it comes to family photos, you want something warm, pleasing, and filled with happy emotions.

Baby photography embodies these qualities with an added “aww” factor. This “fuzzy feeling” is achieved using a preset like the ones below.

17. Newborn

This preset by Photonify brings down vibrancy and clarity. This softens the mid-tone contrast and helps the subject blend more into the setting.

It adds a yellow temperature to the image to make it warmer. The shadows and blacks have also been muted, so the image is much softer.

18. WeEdit Newborn

WeEdit present us a range of newborn photography presets that are great for Lightroom. They offer ten different presets that all suit newborn photography. Each preset has a different aesthetic that works perfectly with this genre of photography. 

We love the Soft Skin and Mahogany presets. WeEdit also provide a description of each preset. These descriptions include the ideal situations to use them in, and also images that shouldn’t use these presets. This is great for photographic beginners. 

19. Newborn Lightroom Presets: Portrait Lightroom Presets

Here, you can find 20 free Lightroom presets by TemaPhoto on Envato Elements for newborn photography.

You can use them for portraiture as well. These are especially great when you do a photo shoot of a newborn and the whole family. You’ll definitely find something for all of your images.

Free Lightroom Presets for Wedding Photography

If you are a wedding photographer, there is a high chance that you will take hundreds of pictures in one day.

This is why it’s beneficial to use Lightroom presets. You can significantly make your post-processing faster with presets.

Of course, you are going to have to adjust them a bit. Usually, a wedding happens in multiple venues and varying lighting conditions. But it’s a good start to try Lightroom presets, which fit the atmosphere of a wedding.

20. Mini Enlighten Presets

These free Lightroom presets from MCP can be used for different genres of photography.

On your wedding images, they will look soft and warm. They add a bit of yellow to the images making the bridal dress look stunningly white.

21. Super Preset Sample Pack

These 10 free Lightroom presets can make your wedding photos stunning. This collection contains five color presets and five black-and-white presets.

You can decide what kind of effect you wish to reach with your images and choose a preset with that in mind. You’ll find everything from warm and romantic tones to more dramatic monochrome.

22. Presets for Portrait, Weddings, and Film

These are 12 of the best free Lightroom presets from Greater Than Gatsby. As you can see, this package contains free Lightroom presets for wedding photography.

But don’t hesitate to try their other products on your wedding images. You can get great results from them too.

Free Lightroom Presets for Food Photography

In food photography, it’s important to find balance during post-processing. You want to make the food look delicious. For example, sometimes, you must saturate your images to make the fruits look appetizing.

But generally, we recommend looking for a rather natural effect. You don’t want the food to look like it’s made of plastic!

23. Dani’s Cookings

These free presets from Daniela Lambova will enhance your food photography.

It was made for food images with low contrast or highlights. She has made ones specifically for specific deserts. And others bring out light tones or blue highlights with smaller adjustments.

As you can see, they are not overly dramatic presets. But they make your food stand out a bit more.

24. Food

This is a free option from PresetLove. It was made to make your food photos more colorful and exciting.

It’s perfect for sharing images on social media. Your photos will pique people’s interest and stop them from scrolling past.

Free Lightroom Presets for Night and Astrophotography

Night and astrophotography landscapes benefit from presets… in a more serious way than those adjusting images of babies and families.

These presets help dehaze images caused by light pollution.

25. City at Night

PresetPro has our first choice for a free night photography preset. They increase the exposure while keeping the highlights down.

The details are pulled from shadows, and the contrast is present but not overly used. It’s great for street scenes with lots of light sources.

26. Astro Photography

These three presets can really bring out the best in your astrophotography:

• The first preset adds clarity and highlights to make those lights pop.
• The second preset is more muted and not so strong as it subtly increases the detail in the shadows.
• The third adds warmth to the yellow color temperature and light through exposure, whites, and highlights.

Free Lightroom Presets for Travel Photography

Travel photography is one of those all-encompassing photo niches. You’ll take different shots on your travels, be it architecture, portraits, or landscapes.

So you need some presets that are just as versatile. Here are three free Lightroom presets. They will work well with your nomadic travel images.

27. Travel by Nomanbefore

Here are four presets to cover all travel bases:

• Laguna Sunset: Brings details out of shadows and increases the highlights, adding a warmer tone.
• It’s a Jungle Out There: Adds exposure while keeping the contrast low for a warm, light photo.
• Into The Woods: Adds warmth and light to make a forest warm and welcoming.
• Beach Days: Brings out the best of the light and mutes the distractions in the image.

28. Travel Presets

These are Lightroom presets by FilterGrade (via Loaded Landscapes). They help turn those muddy, cold images into something more powerful.

They add warmth and take away that blue tinge of coldness. These can subtly bring out the best in your travel photo while keeping them professional.

29. Travel by Photonify

This preset offers warmth, contrast, and highlights. The adjustments here involve upping clarity and vibrance while keeping saturation low.

This allows a punch of color but not too much. The clarity is the contrast in the midtones.

Bonus: Creative Lightroom Presets

Film photography has lost some footing with today’s technological advancements. But film has subsequently reappeared, with photographers eager to get their hands on the rolls out there.

Luckily, camera manufacturers have found a way to replicate the moods and tones of film with Lightroom presets.

30. Film-Inspired Lightroom Preset

This Lightroom preset was made for you by PhotographyPlanet if you want a film-inspired look.

It can work perfectly with different kinds of photography. So you can also try it on your landscape, still-life images, and portraits.

31. Vintage Film Lightroom Preset

Another free Lightroom preset from PhotographyPla.net. This one gives a vintage look to your image by adding a sepia-like look.

You can also try this for different genres.

32. Holga Lightroom Presets

These 10 Lightroom presets by Dustin Leader on Preset Heaven are for mimicking the images a Holga camera takes.

These will strongly affect your photos, so you probably don’t want to use them all the time. But it’s definitely worth experimenting with them.

33. Historian

This free preset on Preset Heaven by Darya is a black-and-white one. This also has a strong effect but probably fits more images than the Holga presets.

It mimics an old film camera, and your images look like you were shooting on film.

34. Desert Sun

This preset from PresetLove provides an easy way to draw out vivid and warm colors.

Looking at your images after, you can almost feel the heat of the desert.

35. The Editorial Collection v2

These free Lightroom presets from Preset Works make your photos coherent and beautiful.

This collection contains 13 different presets. All of them give your images a deep and serious look.

36. VSCO film

VSCO created this preset to emulate the Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160. It’s a subtle difference in how it only adds contrast while pulling out a little clarity and vibrancy. It’s subtle yet effective.

Conclusion: Best Free Lightroom Presets

We have collected the best free Lightroom presets for almost every genre of photography. So you hopefully found something useful.

Feel free to experiment with modifying these presets. It’s a great way to practice and eventually create your own Lightroom presets. And check out our own Lightroom Presets if you want more simple, one-click presets for jaw-dropping edits!

Let’s dive deep into the many settings in the Lightroom export dialogue box (File > Export). Many options are also in the export panel of Lightroom (formerly Lightroom CC), but not all. To learn how to export photos from Lightroom, see our post on how to save and export photos from Lightroom.

Choosing The Best Lightroom Export Settings

We love our images and want to share our favorites at the highest quality possible. But this does not always mean exporting the files at 100%. Exporting images from Adobe Lightroom is not a one-size-fits-all situation.

We share our photos in different ways. So, the best Lightroom export settings depend on where we share our images. But we’ll cover how to best export photos from Lightroom without losing quality.

File Managment

Choose Export Location

Click File > Export from the main menu at the top. Then, use the settings under the Export Location tab to help you organize exports. There is no best export location. Choose the location that works for you.

Select same folder as original photo in the Export To drop-down menu to keep your exports with the original photos. But you can also save them to your desktop in a new folder. Choose where you want to keep your images.

In the Existing Files drop-down, select choose a new name or the exported file. By default, Lightroom Classic exports using the file name encoded by your camera.

You can customize the file names in almost infinite ways. Then, you can save your favorite naming combinations for your exports.

 

Change File Name

Start by opening the File Naming tab and click the box next to Rename File. You can type directly into the template editor.

Add custom text to your image title or punctuation to separate title elements. Lightroom shows you an example of what the title looks like for your selected image.

For more in depth control, open the drop-down menu and select Edit. This opens the Filename Template editor.

Lightroom Classic includes default naming choices like Filename, Sequence #, Date, and Title. Scroll through the drop-down menus to see more choices.

Use other options like Image # and metadata naming options like Copyright. Include as many identifiers as you like. Then click the Insert button next to your choices.

 

File Format

Adjust Details Under File Settings

The File Settings tab lets you choose the image format and quality, file size, and color space. Lightroom has similar settings. But the export panel is organized differently from Lightroom Classic.

This space allows you a great amount of control. You have a quality slider which is great for roughly editing the output quality of your photograph.

For more accurate control, use the Limit File Size To: box to set the highest limit for your file size. 

 

Best Formats to Export Photos

The best image format for online posting is JPEG. It is a universal image file format. But a JPEG is a compressed file. So you lose some quality when exporting. It just may not be obvious when viewing a photo online.

If you want to export a high-resolution image, select TIFF or DNG. For printing, you can choose either a JPEG or a TIFF file. But not all social media platforms accept uncompressed file formats. Some platforms accept RAW files. But this is not common.

Here are the image file formats currently accepted by the most popular social media platforms:

• Instagram: Converts all uploaded photos to JPEG.
• Facebook: Accepts JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, and BMP.
• X: Accepts JPEG, PNG, and GIF.
• Flickr: Accepts JPEG, PNG, and non-animated GIFs. All other formats are converted to JPEG.
• Pinterest: Accepts JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, and WEBP.
• Website Hosts: Web hosting sites vary. For example, Wix accepts JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, WEBP, HEIC, HEIF, JPE, JFIF, JPEG 2000, and RAW files.

Best Image Quality and Sizes for Export

Cameras with lots of megapixels (MP) create large files. And if you do any editing in Adobe Photoshop beforehand, your file size can skyrocket past a gigabyte (GB).

We want to export photos from Lightroom without losing quality. But exporting full-sized files usually means large file sizes.

When exporting for print, export a full-sized file unless the print lab has an image size limitation. But large image files do not work well online. 

Large image files are slow to load and use lots of photo storage space. Also, there is a limit to how much quality can be displayed on most monitors and mobile devices.

Popular platforms compress your images because of the large volume uploaded. If you export images at their recommended size, you will see little difference in image quality.

If you upload a full-size image and leave the compression up to the platform, you will probably see reduced image quality.

High-quality images can become pixelated, and the platform may crop your photo. Plus, reducing the size also protects your full-size image from unofficial downloads.

 

Reducing File Size

In Lightroom, you can reduce file size in two ways. You can use the slider to reduce JPEG quality by a percentage or set a size limit.

Rather than export the files at 100%, select 85%. This reduces the file size and keeps the perceived image quality. Some photographers even suggest reducing image quality to 70%.

If the social media platform has a file size limitation, check the box next to Limit File Size To: Then, enter a maximum file size.

Lightroom creates the best quality file within the size limit. Here are the current image size limitations of popular social media platforms:

• Instagram: Max 8 MB
• Facebook: Under 30 MB is recommended
• X: Under 5 MB is recommended
• Flickr: Up to 200 MB
• Pinterest: Max 20 MB
• Website Hosts: This varies. For instance, Wix recommends no larger than 25 MB.

You may also want to reduce file size to make images load faster. But there is disagreement about the optimal image size for online viewing.

If the images load slowly, reduce the size to under 1 MB (1,000 KB). If the photos still load slowly, reduce the size to 500 KB.

Best Color Space Settings for Export

Most online content is viewed on computer screens or mobile devices. Both have limited colors. So, you may prefer to edit in a larger color space like Adobe RGB.

But the best color space for posting online is sRGB. This limits the colors to those your viewers can see. It is also the default color space for many cameras. 

If you print photos, the color space can be sRGB or Adobe RGB.

Image Size

Adjust Image Sizing

The size of your images will vary with your camera system and how you have cropped them. But most digital cameras create images larger than accepted on social media platforms.

Under Image Sizing, you can export files at defined display sizes and resolutions. You have similar choices in Lightroom, but they are more limited.

Best Display Size for Export

If you are printing, export your file with the original display size. Check the box next to Resize To Fit if you are posting online.

You can choose to enter the exact dimensions for both width and height. Or you can enter dimensions for your image’s long or short edge. Lightroom then figures out the other dimension based on the current aspect ratio.

There is an optimal display size for many social media platforms. Platforms reduce your image to the maximum size. Some keep the aspect ratio. But others may crop your photo.

Platforms have different recommendations for cover photos, banners, and ads. But here are the display size recommendations for image posts:

• Instagram: 1,080px on the bottom edge. Photos in landscape orientation are 1,080 x 608px. Photos in portrait orientation are 1,080 x 1,350px (4:5 aspect ratio)
• Facebook: 1,200px on the bottom edge. Pictures in portrait orientation work well as 1,200 x 1,500px (4:5 aspect ratio).
• X: Images posts are best at 1,200 x 675px (16:9 panoramas).
• Flickr Pro: Images display at 6,144px on the long edge. Other accounts display at 2,048px.
• Pinterest: Images display at 1,000px on the short side. Photos in landscape orientation are 1,000 x 1,500px. Photos in portrait orientation are 1,000 x 2,100px.
• Website Hosts: This varies. Wix suggests uploading images that are 2,560 x 1,440px.

There is debate about the best resolution for posting images to a personal website. It is about balancing quality and how fast you want the webpage to load.

Most web hosting services let you load whatever file size you want. But the platform may compress or “optimize” your image to increase speed. If you are unsure what display size to use for your website, 2,048px is an excellent place to start

The ‘Don’t Enlarge’ Box and Best Export Resolution

If you are working with a small image file, you may be tempted to enlarge the photo on export. Lightroom is not a good tool for enlarging photos. Check the box next to Don’t Enlarge.

If you need to enlarge a photo for printing, use Lightroom, Photoshop, or a resize tool. You can use ON1 Photo RAW’s AI resize. Or use Photoshop’s Superzoom neural filter to enlarge part of a photo without losing resolution.

The best resolution for images viewed online is 72 ppi. For the best printing resolution, change the resolution to 300 ppi.

Final Touches 

Sharpening

Sharpening defines the edges and usually adds a bit of brightness to your image. Most images benefit from a bit of sharpening during export. Depending on your needs, you can choose from a set of output sharpening presets.

Both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom include sharpening presets for onscreen and printing on matte or glossy paper. You can choose from three sharpness levels—Low, Standard, and High.

Adjust Metadata Settings

Your camera collects lots of data, including settings and maybe GPS coordinates. Lightroom makes adding more metadata to your images easy to help you find and sort images.

You can add a model’s name and your address. And you may want this personal information attached to the image. But you may not like the world to see it.

Because this information lives with an image, it becomes public when you post to many social media platforms. The exception is Instagram, which strips your picture of all metadata.

Other platforms may strip some of the metadata. But Flickr preserves metadata. So, under the Metadata tab, you control which metadata Lightroom Classic embeds when you export images.

You can include all metadata, camera settings, or only copyright information. You can also remove information about the location and people in your photo.

Add a Watermark 

Adding a watermark is like signing a painting. There is much debate about whether to watermark images or not. One side argues that a watermark detracts from the image. Others argue it is like signing artwork and reduces image theft.

You can add a watermark at export rather than onto the image itself. This lets you change when and where you add a watermark. Most photographers do not watermark printed images. But you may add it when posting to social media.

You can add simple text or a graphic watermark. Click the box next to Watermark. Open the drop-down menu in Lightroom Classic and select Edit Watermarks.

 

Setup Export Preset Settings

It is easy to forget which export settings are best for various social media platforms and printing. So, make an export preset of your favorite settings! Click the Add button below the left-hand column in Lightroom’s export dialogue.

Here are some examples of what you can enter:

Lightroom Export Settings for Instagram

• Location: Personal choice
• File Naming: “Filename_Instagram”
• File Settings: JPEG, sRGB, 85%
• Image Sizing: Width 1,080px, resolution 72 ppi
• Sharpening: Screen, standard
• Metadata: Leave the default setting
• Watermarking: Personal choice

Lightroom Export Settings for a Website

• Location: Personal choice
• File Naming: “Filename_Website”
• File Settings: JPEG, sRGB, 85%
• Image Sizing: Width 2,048px, resolution 72 ppi
• Sharpening: Screen, standard
• Metadata: Include all metadata, then check the Remove Person Info and Remove Location Info boxes
• Watermarking: Personal choice

Lightroom Export Settings for a High-Resolution Print

• Location: Personal choice
• File Naming: “Filename_Print”
• File Settings: TIFF, sRGB, 100%
• Image Sizing: Uncheck resize box, resolution 300 ppi
• Sharpening: Matte or glossy, standard
• Metadata: Leave the default setting
• Watermarking: Uncheck the box

 

Conclusion: The Best Lightroom Export Settings

The best Adobe Lightroom export settings depend on how you want to use the exported file. File and display sizes vary across social media platforms.

What you use for social media posts will not be the same for Lightroom export settings for print. So you should determine them on a case-by-case basis.

For more tips and tricks, look at our complete Lightroom guide! And try out The Preset Collection for shortcuts to perfection!

Our ultimate guide will show you how to use the Lightroom histogram correctly. We will cover everything from reading the histogram to using it for edits. Every photographer should understand how this graph works, so read on to find out more. 

What Is A Histogram? 

A histogram is a graph that shows us the tonal values of a photograph. By reading a histogram, you can tell if a photo is too bright, dark, flat, or contrasty. It is a helpful way to show us how to start our photo editing process.

Modern histograms in digital editing software sometimes also show different color channels. Knowing these color channels is useful for color-correcting and color-casting photos. 

A histogram is also a great way to check if your screen is good for photo editing. If the histogram looks good, and your screen looks too dark, you better not edit on that screen. Editing on a bad screen will heavily affect how your image looks on other screens or printed out. 

Histogram in Lightroom vs. Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

The two programs use different approaches to the histogram visually. Lightroom’s histogram is more slick and simple, whereas Lightroom Classic’s is more visually detailed. The major difference between the two histograms is that Lightroom doesn’t allow you to edit the photograph directly through the histogram. 

How To Read A Histogram 

A histogram is almost impossible to read if you haven’t been introduced to this graph before. But it is easy to decipher once you understand how it works. 

The x-axis (from left to right) represents the tonal range possible in a photograph. The left of the histogram represents the blacks, and the right represents the highlights. So, the histogram x-axis represents a gradient from true black to true white. 

The y-axis (from top to bottom) represents how much of the specific tonal value is in the photograph. So, the higher the marking on the graph, the more this tonal value is dominant in your photograph. 

The Lightroom histograms also include color channels. These are individual areas for the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) channels. Like the tone, these areas will show you how much of each channel is in which tonal area. 

Understanding A Photograph Through A Histogram

The histogram can tell you a lot about your image without even seeing your photograph. We will now introduce how you can identify your photographs using the histogram.

Every photograph will be different. Stylistic choices will impact what is deemed a ‘good distribution of tones.’ Therefore, there is no set histogram to aim towards. 

The x-axis of the histogram represents the tonal range, so photographers usually look for an even spread across this axis. 

One point that photographers do not want is for the graph to bunch up, directly touching the right or left of the graph. This means that many of the tones are lost to over or underexposure.

On the other hand, if the data does not extend close to the edges of the histogram, your photograph may be flat. A flat histogram will house all the data in the midtone section of the graph. These images will have a low contrast. 

Photos with histograms leaning toward the left will contain mostly dark tones. Histograms with data to the right will contain mostly light tones. 

If there are points at both ends of the graph, the photo will have a high contrast. The closer to the edges, the closer the tones will be to being washed or blacked out. 

Many photographers will say that you may want a histogram that looks like a camel’s hump. This hump means there is plenty of data in the shadows and highlights, not too many midtones, and few full blacks or whites. 

Examples of Photographs and Their Histograms

Now, we will present a range of histograms and their matching photos. Before revealing the photograph, see if you can figure out what it could look like. 

Aspects To Consider That May Change A Histogram

Let’s now discuss important factors that could change the histogram data. You must consider these points before planning how to approach your editing according to the histogram. 

The first aspect to consider is whether you will crop your photograph. The histogram will change depending on the tones in your current selection and as you move around your crop borders. This can help select the right dynamic range in your photograph. 

Color adjustments will also affect your histogram. The most important are the White Balance and Temperature/Tint adjustments. These adjustments move the color data, which then adjusts the overall data. Therefore, these sliders will affect the contrast and tonal range of your photograph. 

Using The Lightroom Histogram For Edits

Lightroom Classic lets you edit the corresponding sliders by clicking directly on the histogram. This feature is unique to Lightroom Classic, so you cannot use it in Lightroom. 

The area will be highlighted as you hover over each histogram section. These areas will correspond to the tonal slider adjustments. The sliders will also have their numerical value highlighted when you hover over the histogram. 

To make adjustments using the histogram, simply click and drag the mouse from left to right. Dragging your click left will decrease the amount of the adjustment to your slider, and dragging it to the right will increase it. 

Playing around with this editing approach provides a great insight into how a histogram works. You can directly see how different tones affect the histogram. You can also see how the values and data changes depending on the photographs properties. 

Edit Clipping With The Lightroom Histogram

Clipping is the term used for pure black or white tones. Information is ‘clipped’ as these areas can have more information in them, but due to the photo or editing, the information is cut short. 

The Lightroom histogram provides a quick and easy way to show these ‘clipped’ areas. You can highlight these areas by finding the triangles on the top right and left of the histogram. The left will show the Blacks, and the right will show the Whites. 

If the triangle is highlighted, you can tell if your photo has clipped areas. When you hover over the triangle, the areas will appear in your photograph. The white areas will turn red if you are on the overexposed triangle. The black areas will appear blue if you are on the underexposed triangle. 

Lightroom allows you to leave these areas highlighted if you click the relevant triangle. This allows you to make adjustments to reduce these areas while seeing your direct impact. 

Showing the clipped areas is a brilliant feature that most digital editing software will have. This is because it helps us put as much information into the image as possible. Even if it is hardly noticeable, a little information is always much better than pure whites or blacks. 

Conclusion: Lightroom Histogram

After an introduction to the Adobe Lightroom histogram, we can see how important this tool is. It is no surprise that most digital editing software includes this graph. Most digital cameras will also have a histogram and even a live histogram. 

Histograms are everywhere in photography, so getting familiar with them early is worth it. Once you have learned the basics we outline here, it is an easy graph to read. Return to this article if you need help with your Lightroom histogram. 

Today, we will guide you through all Lightroom tethering features. We will show you how to set up a tethered shoot and how to make the most of it. This ultimate guide to Lightroom tethering will transform your photoshoots to be more efficient and effective. 

What is Lightroom Tethering? 

Lightroom tethering involves plugging your camera directly into the computer while shooting. This allows you to control your camera and upload your images instantly. Tethered shooting is most common in a studio, but it can also be done on location.

The images will appear on your screen as you shoot them. This is incredibly helpful for a smooth shoot between the photographer and model. An assistant can be on hand to check the photos coming in to make sure everything looks up to scratch. 

Tethered shooting is also helpful for composing product shots. Lightroom tethering lets you control the camera settings and press the shutter release from the computer. This allows you to keep the camera still without touching it. Therefore, you can adjust the scene you’re shooting without interrupting the camera. 

Lightroom Tethering in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom does not have tethered shooting. This means you must use Lightroom Classic to start a tethered shoot. You get both versions of Lightroom when purchasing any Adobe Lightroom package.

Tethered Capture in Lightroom Classic

What Do You Need For Lightroom Tethering? 

You need Adobe Lightroom, a digital camera, and a USB cable to start your tethered Lightroom shoot. 

You must ensure you have a long USB cable for tethered shooting. This will allow you to walk around with your camera without damaging the camera or the computer. Laptops are best for a more portable shooting setup.

You may also need a tripod if you keep the camera in the same place. This is particularly important for product shots or producing composites. 

How To Start A Lightroom Tethering Photoshoot 

Let’s now guide you through setting up your own Lightroom tethering photoshoot. Make sure your camera is compatible with Lightroom tethering; you can check from this list here. 

Plug in Your Camera

The first thing you will need to do is connect your camera to your computer. Then, you will want to open Adobe Lightroom Classic. 

Ensure your camera is turned on before starting a tethered capture session. 

Start a Tethered Capture Session 

To start your Lightroom tethering session, go to File > Tethered Capture > Start Tethered Capture… 

This will open up a Tethered Capture Settings dialog box. Here, you can make file management choices that will help keep your shoot organized. 

These options include naming the photoshoot session, automatically adjusting the file names of your photographs, and selecting the import destination. All these options are super helpful and give us control in important places. 

Lightroom also allows us to automatically apply metadata keywords to every photo. This is particularly helpful if you perform many photoshoots. It means you can search for the shoot using simple keywords.

Tethered Capture Session 

After finishing your Tethered Capture Settings, press OK, and Lightroom will search for a connected device. 

Once the program has your camera connected, you will get the Tethered Capture interface. From here, you can shoot on camera or use these controls to take your photos. Each photo will be uploaded directly to your library. 

Control Your Lightroom Tethered Photoshoot 

We will now dive into all the different ways you can control your tethered photoshoot in Lightroom. 

Shutter Release 

You can take pictures through the camera like normal. But, the tethered photo shoot box allows you to take photos from the computer. You can do this by clicking the big grey button toward the right end of the dialog box. 

The shutter release is almost instantaneous. This is ideal for time-sensitive shoots, such as using live models or even wildlife. The image will appear in your Lightroom Catalog in a couple of seconds. 

Camera Settings 

Like the shutter release, we can edit the camera settings from the computer. The Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, and White Balance are controlled by drop-down menus. 

Once you click the new settings, your camera’s settings automatically change. This is a great feature because it means you do not have to risk moving the camera to change the settings. 

A feature like this is ideal for times when movement should be kept to a minimum. It is also helpful if you have to place the camera in a difficult location that is not easily accessible. 

Develop Settings 

Lightroom allows you to automatically apply presets to your images as they are imported. You can choose from any preset, whether a stock one or one you have made or bought online. 

This is helpful for photographers as you can automatically see how your images will look in your desired style. This may change how you compose or light your shoot. It will save you from getting to the editing process and wishing you had balanced elements differently. 

Live View 

Tethered Shooting also includes a Live view. This Live view is brilliant for times when you want to keep the camera as still as possible. It is also perfect for situations where you place the camera in a hard-to-reach location. 

The Live view allows you to rotate the screen. This is helpful if you plan to edit your shoot in portrait mode. 

If you return to the tethered shooting dialog box with the Live view open, you will see more options. This new array of options allows you to control the focus. 

You can control the arrows, which have 3 different increments in each direction. Even the largest increment you can move it in is quite small, so the smallest option is great for fine-tuning your focus. 

You are also able to autofocus. Please set your autofocus point before placing your camera where it needs to be. The autofocus button will allow you to shoot a moving model or subject more easily than pressing the increment buttons.

Other Lightroom Tethering Tips 

Zoom 

One of the most useful features of tethered shooting is that you can zoom into the images as they come into the computer. This allows the assistant to check the focus smoothly without disrupting the shoot. 

The best part about the zoom is that it will stay zoomed in on the next photo. Therefore, you can constantly check the zoom as the shoot progresses. 

Adjustments 

You can make adjustments to each image while being connected through tethered shooting. Unlike the zoom feature, these adjustments won’t continue to the next imported image. 

Conclusion: Lightroom Tethering 

After reviewing all these features, we can see how easy and useful Lightroom tethering can be. It allows us almost full control of our camera without being anywhere near it. This is primarily useful for fashion shoots, but it can be used for almost any genre of photography. 

Lightroom has done a brilliant job of providing useful controls in an easy and simple manner. This makes quick choices and quality control checks as simple as possible. Every photographer should become familiar with Lightroom tethering as it may be the ideal tool for a future project. 

Today, we will examine how the dehaze adjustment functions and how we can use it to our advantage. By the end of this article, you will know when to use it and its advantages. 

What is Dehaze? 

The dehaze tool removes as much unwanted haze from your image as possible. 

This is a sought-after tool as mist, haze, and other visually dampening environments are common in photography. Atmospheric haze is also unavoidable in landscape photography. 

Different types of haze dramatically reduce the quality of the scene we see. They subtract definition and also reduce the color and contrast in the photograph. 

The dehaze adjustment in Lightroom aims to combat all these points. It can reduce the mist in the photograph while simultaneously adding contrast and color to the needed areas. This incredible tool magically cuts through the haze in the photograph. 

The dehaze tool in Lightroom can also add haze to our photographs. This is not as useful as its dehaze qualities, but you may want to use it to add atmosphere to your photographs. It helps create moody, misty photographs that are less about the scene and more about the atmosphere. 

Dehaze in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes.

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions produce the same results as the algorithms for adjustments are the same. They both allow you to perform photo merging. So, it will come down to personal preference or whether you need to use a very specific process. 

The dehaze tool functions exactly the same in both Lightroom versions.

Using Dehaze in Lightroom 

We will now show you how effective the dehaze tool can be. We will go through different environments you may come across in photography and show you how the dehaze tool works. 

The dehaze tool can be used for clarity and creativity. Let’s examine its effectiveness. 

Reducing Haze 

We will start by using the dehaze tool to remove haze. For this first example, I will pick a misty picture. 

I will use this cloudy landscape scene to demonstrate the power of the dehaze tool. The first adjustment I make is to add +50 dehaze to the scene. We can see the fog lift from the photo, and the mountains become much clearer. 

The dehaze tool manages to lift this thick fog from the background. But it also makes the foreground slightly more defined. Some of the mountain tops were previously hidden in the mist, but now they are much clearer. 

This dehaze process makes it extremely apparent why we should shoot in RAW. The quality recovery in a RAW file can reveal elements previously hidden in the photo. 

If we push the dehaze to the extreme, +100, we can see much more detail in the mountains and clouds. The picture now has too much contrast, but it is interesting to see how this tool works. 

The program has added some subtle saturation to the colors. The most noticeable element is that the image is much darker. In some of these dark spots (darker clouds), we can see noise where the program has struggled to portray the area accurately. 

After looking at these results, you can see you will have to balance dehaze with other tonal adjustments. For my final edit, I used +65 dehaze and raised the exposure up a bit to counter the extra shadows. You must balance the tonal adjustment as it slightly contradicts the dehaze tool. 

Let’s now examine another photographic situation that benefits the dehaze tool in Lightroom. The image we will edit shows a vast landscape taken from the air. 

We will work with this image as it doesn’t seem to have much mist or haze. But the vast distance between the furthest point and the camera means there’s a great amount of atmospheric haze. 

The dehaze adjustment tool is perfect for reducing atmospheric haze. As this haze is less noticeable, you should move the slider in smaller increments. As you can see, increasing the dehaze makes the city below and the distant mountains much clearer and more vibrant. 

Adding Haze 

The dehaze tool can also be used to add haze or mist to our photos. This doesn’t work for any photograph, as most pictures will look overexposed with reduced dehaze. For this to work, you will need images that already have a slight bit of mist or an atmospheric feel. 

For this effect, I will edit a picture taken during a storm. By reducing the dehaze amount, I am adding more haze to the image. This increased haze amplifies the intensity of the storm in the image. It washes out detail, giving the effect of more rain between the subject and the camera. 

Conclusion: Dehaze in Lightroom 

The dehaze slider in Lightroom is a crucial adjustment that can fix our images in seconds. Adobe Lightroom produces a brilliant slider that balances several important factors, resulting in an effective dehaze tool. Now, we just have to move a single slider to reduce the amount of haze in our photographs. 

The dehaze tool is in the same grouping as clarity and texture. Read more about these Lightroom effects to get the most out of your images.